Park satisfied after first home World Cup in charge

The TISSOT UCI Track World Cup returned to the National Cycling Centre for the first time in four years this weekend and Park saw his charges pick up three gold, one silver and one bronze medal on home boards.

With both team pursuit squads illustrating why they are Olympic champions and the combination of Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald delivering a gold medal in their first Madison together, there was much for the home crowd to cheer.

Add to that a resurgent Callum Skinner bouncing back from injury to take kilometre time trial bronze, plus Archibald narrowly missing out on omnium gold, Great Britain racked up the same total medal count as table toppers Germany - who were helped by sprinter Kristina Vogel's golden hat-trick for the second successive World Cup.

Park himself was reluctant to take the credit though, instead highlighting the quality of the British Cycling organisation as a whole.

"I think it's gone really well. I'm very pleased. It's a well-oiled team. They don't need my input too much. They got on and did the business," said the Royal Yachting Association's former Olympic manager.

"The riders were fantastic and put in some great performances. And of course the home crowd really makes all the difference.

"Being here the atmosphere has been fantastic in Manchester all weekend so thank you to everyone who came out to cheer on the team this weekend."

The home nation's dominance of both team pursuit events came with squads containing only 50 per cent of the Olympic title winning riders from Rio 2016.

The men are now shorn of Sir Bradley Wiggins and Owain Doull, while Joanna Rowsell Shand's retirement and Laura Kenny's career break due to starting a family has meant spaces opening up for younger riders to show their worth.

Three-time Olympic champion Ed Clancy returned to the fold in Manchester after a year away from the international track scene, while the men's team also featured double Olympic gold medallist Steven Burke.

But Clancy himself credited 21-year-old Ollie Wood as the strongest man in their final ride to gold this weekend, while the women's outfit that set Britain's fastest post-Rio team pursuit clocking were in just their second race as a quartet.

"I think both the men and women rode very, very well, very disciplined. Great times for this stage in their cycle" Park added.

"Ed Clancy has spoken in the last couple of days that a few years ago that would have been the world record so that was fantastic for the men. Equally the women had a couple of new riders and did particularly well."

The future also looks bright in the women's Madison as Archibald and Barker, reigning omnium and points race world champions respectively, paired up for the very first time and toppled the reigning Belgian world champions.

Barker finished second in that World Championships Madison alongside team pursuit colleague Emily Nelson, and has also picked up the European title and other World Cup podiums in the event since it's introduction to the international programme 12 months ago.

Archibald herself won gold in the very first World Cup Madison in Glasgow last year, but had not ridden another in international competition until showing why she and Barker could go on to be the chosen pairing at Tokyo 2020.

"The women's Madison I thought was a fantastic performance from Elinor and Katie who were battling through," said Park.

"Katie, in particular, has had a lot of racing in the past few weeks so it was great to see them win.

"But I think the whole team performing well over the three days has been the highlight for me.

"We only had eight Olympians in all the British riders who are riding and a lot of young riders coming through the programme.

"We saw some great performances from them across the board and a lot of PBs over the three days of racing so there's lots to look forward to.

"We're very much about the long game into Tokyo and right now it's about delivering against the expectations the coaches have from where the riders' training programmes are right now. They've done that and some have exceeded that."

Sportsbeat 2017